Lubrication of the eyes is accomplished in humans by a plurality of meibomian gland openings on the eye lid. The openings communicating with the meibomian gland are conventionally assumed to deposit secretions onto the eyelid during blinking. These secretions are distributed in a film on the open eye when a person blinks and moves their eyelid. For persons where such sections are deposited in a normal fashion, a tear or lipid layer is constantly communicated to the eye surface and prevent dry eye states.
However, in a large portion of the population, such secretions from the openings in the eyelid communicating with the meibomian gland are inadequate. As a consequence, the tear or lipid layer on the surface of the eye is inadequate and normal evaporation of the inadequate layer will cause dry eyes.
Approximately 75% of the estimated 60 million people suffering from such inadequate secretions, suffer from a condition known as Evaporative Dry Eye. This results in a decrease of the tear layer quantity and especially the tear layer quality of the patient. The remainder of dry eye sufferers are categorized as suffering from Aqueous Deficient Dry Eye. This results as a function of the quality and quantity of the actual tear production and communication of such to the eyes.
As a result of such tear quantity and quality issues, people suffering such generally experience constant pain from eye irritation, including a sandy or gritty sensation. This is a significant health problem for sufferers. This is because if left untreated, such dry eye conditions are conventionally known to lead to actual physical scarring or ulceration of the cornea. Further, such can easily lead to a partial or total loss of vision.
While such conditions and their causes are a constant subject for research, there is presently no cure for such dry eye conditions suffered by such patients. However, conventionally there are various treatments which are initiated to alleviate the often debilitating pain and discomfort caused by dry eye conditions. Such treatments include: artificial tear solutions, moisture chamber glasses, and punctal occlusion amongst others.
It is medically known that a conventional cause of such dry eyes is a condition involving a dysfunction of the meibomian gland. This occurs when either the passages to the openings in the eyelid or the meibomian glands themselves are occluded where they are partially or completely blocked. A complete blockage or occlusion will prevent secretions from reaching the surface of the eye, whereas a partial occlusion will severely limit the secretions reaching and lubricating the eye.
The depositing of artificial tears to the cornea primarily increases the comfort of people suffering from dry, irritated eyes. However, when used frequently, such artificial tears can rinse away the natural tears and the oils therein necessary to reestablish a normal tear film. Further, such artificial tears do not address the underlying problem of complete or partial occlusions of the passages to or within the meibomian glands. Frequent use of artificial tears is also expensive.
Another treatment includes the use of moisture chamber glasses or frames. Such moisture chamber glasses are custom-made products designed to alleviate the pain and discomfort caused by dry eye conditions. However, such chamber glasses again do nothing to treat the underlying occlusion problem noted above and must be custom fit by an optician, and can be prohibitively expensive for the average consumer. Further, because of the wide differential in the shape of the faces of patients, without a custom fitting of each patient for such chamber glasses, the comfort as well as humidity seal of the chambers to the faces of users are marginal at best.
The system herein is configurable to provide a sealed chamber around one or both eyes of the user and combines the communication of heat from a thermal pack or gel pack in combination with vibration from a ring operatively positioned to contact the eyelids on one side, and the thermal pack or gel pack on an opposing side. The combination of heat from a thermal pack and vibrational therapies is especially well adapted to help clear partial or total blockages within the passage of or to the meibomian glands over time.
It should be noted, the forgoing examples of related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the exercise device and method described and claimed herein. Various limitations of the related art are already known or will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings